I'll Keep You Safe
by HunnyBunny21
Summary: What happens when Pierce meets Lovino Vargas a new boy in her school? Will he be able to save her from herself and home? Will she show him that there's more to life than what he sees? Rated T for violence and Lovino's mouth obviously Picture does not belong to me. Amazing art is given all credit to the owner. Hetalia is not mine if it was... but anyyywaaays the OC is mine
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own Hetalia! If I did heheheheh _

_Anyways this is my first story so there will be mistakes .. Please enjoy!_

November 18, 2013

So, I got this journal today I bought it myself to keep myself calm my friend says that if I ever feel like I'm falling apart to just write it out. It's nothing special, it's just a bright red notebook that I have with me all the time now, but this is my first entry so here goes nothing.I honestly don't think anyone will ever understand. They never do even if I try to explain it to them. No one will ever understand this empty feeling I have going by of everyday unnoticed. Unloved. Unwanted. I have four other siblings, but it's kind of complicated to say the least. My older sister was kicked out of the house because she couldn't behave and my youngest sister, well, she's dead. I live with my two other siblings, but things are not okay. My mom doesn't care about me and only calls me "you" nowadays. I'm nothing more than a maid to her I wish someone could understand. I try my best I do, but it's never good enough I'm still "worthless" and "unnecessary" I'm sorry I didn't mean to be born I'm just here. I may not be much right now, but I will be in the future. I know it! I will right? That's a;; I have to go for right now and it's the only reason why I hold onto that one string in the dark. The one string that stops me from falling any deeper into the pool of darkness below me. Waiting for me to fall.

I closed the journal and quickly shoved it into my bookbag. If my mom ever saw it- I shiver not wanting to finish the thought. I hurry to tie my shoes so I can leave before my mom calls me to do something. _Come on almost there just one more shoe._ I tie it and try to sneak out of my room just to run into my younger sister she's only seven, but just like her father did when he was going out with my mom. She does everything to make my life a living hell. "Mommy! Pierce is trying to leave early again!" I curse under my breath. Big mistake. " Now she cursed at me! Mommy do something about her!" My mom came stomping down the hallway._Someone help me,_ I say to myself if I were to yell it out my punishment would be far worse. "**You**, what were you trying to do?!" I look down if I looked her in the eye I would see the same things that I've seen all the other days disgust and pure hatred. If I were to look her in the eye, if I were to answer, I wouldn't be able to go school today. I stay quiet," What did you say to her?!" I open my mouth to answered too scared to think of what she would do if I didn't. The first hit comes, hitting me straight on my right cheek. I stagger a bit, but don't fall I'm used to it. The next hit isn't a slap,but a punch straight to my stomach. I buckle and fall cursing myself mentally now I was screwed. I hear the laughter of my siblings and my mother as she continuously steps and kicks me. It feels like forever before she is finally done and I drag myself to my feet. I walk down to the kitchen and look at the clock. 7:45 _heh at least they gave me enough time to get a ride from my friend to go to school_. I walk to my friend's house every step feeling like a mile there are probably bruises forming around my whole body by now. When I finally walk the three blocks to my friend's house she is waiting on the front porch and runs up to me immediately, but stops two feet away from me knowing what happened. Tears start to well in her eyes "What happened to you this time? What did she do to you?" I smile wanting to calm her down, "It's not as bad as it looks I swear it," _it's a lot worse _" c'mon let's go inside." I start to walk and try to hide the limp in my right leg. I try to walk as quickly as I can past her, and as I walk by her I feel an arm hold me up. "Out of all the people, can't you trust me on this? I know you're in pain. Don't try to hide it, okay?" I nod and let her lead me through the door and up to her room. "I'm sorry." I say guiltily, as she put her make-up on me again. " It's nothing if anything you should just get out of there and let me call the cops on that bitch of your mother." Trinity says venom dripping from her words. " It's okay, I swear it is! Let's just go we're going to be late."

When we got to the school it was as huge as always going from one side of the street to the other. I'm a sophomore here, but I take junior level classes. Trinity helps me walk to homeroom, linking our arms together to not make it as obvious. She hugs me when we get to my homeroom tears forming in her eyes, I wince," I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."she says blinking away her tears and walks away. _No don't blame yourself please. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own Hetalia_

_I wish I did though… Anyyyywaayys ENJOOOY! ^~^_

I walked into homeroom, hoping I was hiding my limp well enough, and sat in my seat next to my window. It had a perfect view of the small city that I have gotten used to seeing everyday. I couldn't stand it when Trinity cried, it broke my heart that she has to suffer because of me. I thought so many times about leaving her, but she wouldn't let me I just don't want t see those tears anymore. It just wasn't fair to her. Why me anyways? She could be best friends with anyone so why stay stuck to me? Before I could continue with my thoughts were interrupted by the teacher calling my name. "Huh? Umm yeah, here." The teacher gave me a confused look.

" That's not it. You're wanted in the office." Those five words were all it took to spike my fear into my body and make my heart stop.

~ Lovino's POV~

What the fuck why was this taking so long? Lovino groaned I can't believe I had to leave all friends back home for _this_. This is fucking ridiculous I've been waiting here for over five minutes. Waiting two minutes is enough I can't wait to meet this bastard so I can give him a piece of my damn mind that fucking bastardo! I sat in the uncomfortable office chair for five more minutes listening to music from my ipod before someone taps on my shoulder. I face the person ready to curse their fucking brains out, but I turned around to see a fucking ragazza and I didn't want to make a girl cry on the first day.

"Are you Lovino?" I just nodded my head. This girl, she's been here for a while now when she walked in I remember looking at her. She looked scared out of her mind as if she was about to face morte, but now looking at her she looked okay. Her dark brown eyes staring at me, they were a normal but they looked so deep with an emotion I couldn't read. Wait a second she was talking! "-id you hear me?" I snap out of my thoughts," Fuck, no mi dispiace." She sighed. What the hell? She couldn't really blame me for zoning out I really didn't want to come to school today.

"Okay, I will repeat this only once so pay attention this time. My name is Pierce, and I'm in charge of you for the next three days because we have the same class and they don't want you to get lost. Come on we have to get going. Sorry I was late to come get you I thought I was being called down for something else." She whispered the last part,but why? It didn't really matter her voice sounded really nice, but I was never going to tell _her_ that, I would die of embarrassment. Pierce, that was a pretty unique name I guess, but it fit her. She had brown eyes so deep filled with, uugh I don't know what. She wasn't short,but she wasn't really tall too maybe 5'6. Wait what the fuck is wrong with me? I just met her and she probably thinks I'm a creep for looking at her so much. I turned my head completely interested in a huge painting of a fucking dead bastard on the wall for some reason a minute is she, limping?

~Pierce's POV~

Does he notice? Why does he keep looking at me like that? Please God, please I hope he doesn't notice what the make-up is covering he'll probably think that I'm a freak, a worthless, unlovable freak. I walk into class with Lovino behind me this is so awkward why did they send me to show him around the school. We enter m-our first period class together, French. I take my usual seat next to the window and stare out at the sky at the birds. If only I can fly like they can, if only I could get away from the horrors around me. Before I know it I'm poked from behind and I squeak and fall off my chair. Why does this happen to me. I get back to my seat to see the whole class staring at me. Some trying to hide their giggles and other full out laughing at me. I sit in my chair and try to ignore the girls glaring at me can't they leave me alone for one day. I look over to my side as someone taps me.

"Are you okay?" Lovino asked me. His voice has a slight accent I can't place what kind of accent it is, but it sounds pretty funny and nice. I nod my head as the girls behind me send extreme death glares at me. I guess they like Lovino or something. As the teacher spoke I just half paid attention to her. The class was completely boring and she doesn't teach at all. I quickly took notes of things that I thought sounded important, but I didn't really care much. I looked over at him, and noticed that he was actually really cute. He had bright green eyes, and his hair was a dark brown with an odd curl sticking out on the right side of his head, defying gravity, and he didn't really smile from the looks of it, but I can just tell that if he smiled it would look amazing. Woah! what was I thinking I just met the guy. But, he does seem to be paying attention to the class.

"Why the fuck did they sign me up for that wine bastard's language," Lovino muttered," if he ever found out about this he would never leave me alone about it. Around halfway through the class maybe, I got so bored that I fell asleep. I woke up to a slight nudging and someone whispering something in a language I couldn't understand.

_**Okay, so that was pretty bad on my part and I sure as hell know it so don't judge it too horribly. I think I'm going to turn this story into a third person instead of making it from their point of view because I don't feel that I am getting it right just yet. Again, sorry for the horribly written chapter I'll try to do better in chapter 3**_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hetalia is not mine if it was it would have been completely ruined_

"Huh? What did you say?" Pierce said sleepily rubbing her eyelids. She then noticed how close she really was to him his emerald eyes piercing her brown ones. She tried backing away before Lovino grabbed her wrist, "What is that?" Lovino his expression softening from the hard scowl he had on earlier. She shot him a confused look before her eyes widened with shock and horror. She looked at her hand slowly fearing what she would see. _No, no, no ,no he couldn't have seen. Now he'll think I'm a freak._ "Pierce, where is the girl's bathroom?"Lovino asked, digging through her bag for something. Jumping out of her thought she looked at Lovino realizing what he was doing, her face flashing pink when he went through the pocket that every girl has in her bag for the personal items that are a necessity. When he finally found what he was looking for before she could see what it was he put it into his pocket turning around. "C'mon ragazza we're going to the girl's bathroom." He blushed lightly as she led the way carrying her bag. _Why did I choose the girl's bathroom of all places? If anyone sees me going in there or coming out of there they might have the wrong impression._ The hallways were empty second period starting. Pierce turned the corner of an unnecessary long hallway, Lovino watched her worried as he watched her, noticing things he didn't pay much mind to earlier._She hides it really well. How long has this been going on? Why doesn't she look for help? How could this have happened without anyone noticing._ Pierce walked into the girls bathroom, Lovino stood outside for a second before taking a deep breath and walking inside. He couldn't find Pierce at first, but found her inside one of the stalls, he tried to open the door but it was locked. Pierce had her arms wrapped her legs, her head in her knees.

"Per favore. Open the door." Lovino said quietly. The door suddenly opened, Pierce took a deep breath and sat down on the floor. _She finally came out, at least she calmed down a bit, if she were to cry I don't know what I would have done_. Pierce looked at him in the eye, _let the interrogation begin_. Lovino sat down next to Pierce, " You don't have to tell me anything, but I don't want you to hold all that fucking shit in either it isn't healthy." Pierce was at lost for words,and just stared up at him. "What is it?" Lovino said a slight scowl on his face, "Close your eyes, I need to put this on you." he held up a small bottle of concealer. Pierce closed her eyes and felt two hands on her face one holding it in place softly and another gently rubbing the concealer on. "Done." Pierce opened her eyes to find a tomato red Lovino barely an inch from her face. His eyes widened and he abruptly stood up and held a hand out for her, "Come on, we're late." he said avoiding her eyes. She took his hand and started leading the way to their next class, "Thank you . I'm sorry."Pierce said whispering the last part to herself.

They walked into the geometry class and the teacher immediately saw them. "Pierce!" said, "Why are you late to class! You have no excuse to be late to class go to your seat make sure to see me after class." Changing from her reproachful tone she turned towards Lovino with a smile. " So , you are the new student. My name is , your seat is over there next to _that girl_, I just yelled at." Lovino's scowl deepened when the teacher said that and he was close to cursing a shit-storm when he heard the other students when he was walking to his seat.

"She's so fucking stupid, who knows how she got into this class."

"I don't understand why she is still alive she is so worthless."

" I bet even her family regrets the day she was born I know I do."

"She deserves to sit in the miserable corner by herself I feel so bad for the new guy though, he needs to sit next to her."

"I wonder what the hell is wrong with her, she is just so damn ugly, God must have made a mistake while creating her or something." One after another he heard the comments and bursts of laughter as he walked to the seat all the way in the back next to Pierce.

Pierced watched him come up the aisle hearing all the comments one after another, but not listening to them. _I feel sorry for him. He needs to sit next to me, if he talks to me, this school year will be hard for him_. Lovino's scowl couldn't get much deeper and you could practically see the steam coming out of his ears, but he sat down muttering more curses than Pierce even knew existed.

"It's no big deal it's always like this, but it doesn't really bother me." Pierce said giving Lovino a pure smile. _She should smile more it's so… amazing to look at. Why would anyone steal it from her_. Lovino didn't really agree with Pierce, but he calmed down -barely- to satisfy Pierce a bit.

The rest of the day was living hell for Pierce, one after another the classes passed by all the same. By the time lunch came around Lovino was ready to give everyone a level 88 shit-storm. All he saw today were a bunch of assholes. They made fun of her, threw stuff at her, and tried to trip her a bunch of times, but she wouldn't let him help her. When a girl tapped Pierce on the shoulder, Lovino blew up not caring if Pierce was against it or not at this point. "What the fuck you fucking bastard! Can't you people leave her the fuck alone! I've only been here for one fucking day, only one, and all I seem to be seeing are assholes! I swear to Dio if you mess with her there will be one less bit-" Pierce placed a hand on Lovino's shoulder, trying to stifle her laughter, and failing miserably.

"Lovino, calmed down this is my best friend, Trinity." Lovino has never been so embarrassed and ashamed of himself at the same time. His face flushed a bright red, "I-I'm sorry ragazza… I just- I couldn't- forget it. Mi dispiace." Trinity just smiled, "It's okay, you were just trying to protect her," her face started to get a creepy aura around it, and her smile seemed dark,"but if you ever talk to me like that again you're going to get castrated. Understand." Lovino never thought he could be so scared of a girl in his life.

"C'mon Trinity, calm down he didn't mean it." Pierce said trying to diffuse her friend who was thoroughly stretching a scared Lovino's cheek.

"Don't worry I don't actually mean it~! It's so squishy and stretchy!" Trinity said distracted, giving Lovino the chance to escape.

"She scares me more than the french bastard who tried to feel me up in the main office." Lovino said whispering to Pierce as they got their trays and about to sit down Pierce fully laughing. _I haven't seen her laughing like that ever. I wonder what he told her though?_Trinity laughed along with them making the other two laugh even more.

The next class was Chemistry and surprised, yet again, Pierce sat at her desk and smiled. Lovino was seated behind her, looking out the window not paying attention until he heard a distinct laughter,"Honhonhon, I see that you were lucky enough to get paired with my adorable amie." Pierce's cheeked reddened, " Come on Francis don't creep him out more than you already have." She turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry I should introduce you to my friends, this french perv is Francis, the american that is about to be loud is Alfred, and the albino that is going to be late for class agianis , do not call him a German or else we will hear one of the longest speeches he will ever give on why he is an 'awesome' Prussian." Pierce said a smile gracing her features once again as the French pouted about trying to spread love to the world.

**Halfway through the class, as Pierce predicted an albino with crimson eyes, silver hair, and almost paper white skin walked through the door."The AWESOME me has finally arrived to make your unawesome lives awesome with my prescence!" Gilbert yelled as he walked through the door. Lovino was starting to think that Pierce was friends with a class mostly rolled their eyes and ignored him obviously this has happened before. He then sat down in the seat right behind him and just stared at Lovino and Lovino felt his gaze and tried to ignore it, but then the self proclaimed Prussian tapped him on the shoulder and said," Who in my awesome world are you?" and immediately Lovino knew that this guy was going to piss him off way too many times this school year**


	4. Chapter 4

_AUTHOR'S NOTE_

_I'm not sure how good the story is but I'm still trying to figure out the way I should write the story since I keep on jumping from one character to another. I'll try to make it more organized this time around._

~ Now In Storyland~

It was finally the last class of the day, and Pierce was furiously typing in her computer class. Lovino watched her as she fully concentrated on her task transfixed almost, until she finally stopped and looked at him. "Are you done with your work yet, you're behind with everything already, ya know. If you want, you could start on your new work and I'll get you started and maybe even finish some of the older assignments." Green eyes stared back at her, wide with shock maybe? Before nodding and getting to work. _C'mon, you don't have much time to help him with those assignments and you know it. Why did I say that?_ She looked through his folder of assignments for one of the harder ones that she knew would be hard for Lovino to do.

"No, don't do that one leave that one to me. If you want to help me do the shorter easier ones this is my work and it isn't fair for you to be doing this for me so thank you." Lovino told her a soft smile barely visible, but there and Pierce noticed it immediately. "You should smile more you look better with a smile than a scowl." Lovino blushed and turned his head before it got really noticeable. Playing with the curl that defied gravity to cover his face. Pierce laughed a bit and printed her assignment and began to work on the others for Lovino.

By the time class ended Pierce had finished six of the smaller assignments for Lovino, but when the bell rang she was out of the room leaving Lovino to try to keep up with her. By the time Lovino caught up with her she was already at her locker.

"What happened? You disappeared, why are you in such a rush?" Lovino said worrying a bit at how rushed and partially panicked she looked.

"It's not a big deal I just need to get home in less than 25 minutes and since I'm not two miles from the school at least I do not get a bus." Pierce said grabbing her jacket and her assignments, shoving the papers into her bookbag as she walked away. Lovino's scowl appeared once again as he thought of what Pierce just said. _What the fuck goes on in her house that makes her look so scared?_ Before Lovino knew what he was doing he had grabbed her wrist and started taking her in the opposite direction.

"What are you doing Lovino?! I have to go let me go!" Pierce started to struggle against Lovino's tight grip, but that made him grip her wrist tighter.

"Just calm the hell down I'm not doing anything wrong I'm just taking you to my car. That's too fucking far for you to not have a bus." Lovino said loosening his grip as Pierce visibly calmed down.

"Okay, but how are you supposed to know where you're going. You're new remember?"

"Damn, ragazza have a little faith at least." Lovino mumble as they got into his car and he passed her the GPS.

"Hahaha, yeah I'll have a little faith… in the GPS that is." Pierce began to laugh. Lovino was once again transfixed. _What the hell is wrong with me that is just another ragazza. She looks so strong though, but she is like glass heart floating through space lonely and at any moment can get pulled in by a planet and break into a million pieces _.

Pierce handed the GPS and Lovino began to drive taking the shortest route to her house, but every five minutes Pierce would check her cell and see what time it was.

Lovino took a deep breath _it's now or never. _Lovino stopped the car about three blocks away from her house. It had only taken ten minutes for them to get this close and Lovino knew that he had plenty of time to talk to her, for now at least.

"Lovino, I know we're not far, but I need to get home as soon as possible." Pierce said a panicked look coming over her face.

"Pierce calm down. i'm not really good at talking about this kind of shi- I mean stuff." Lovino said taking a deep breath before continuing, "Pierce, I already have a good idea how, but I just want to be sure. How did you get that black eye?"

Pierce froze all color draining from her face. "Please Pierce, I need to know. I know we just met and all, but it isn't fair to you, you deserve better." Tears began to brim in Pierce's and all at once, one after another tears spilled as Pierce explained.

"My mom b-beats me w-w-whenever she is not h-happy with somethi-ing I did." Lovino saw this coming, but the shock came anyways. Lovino came out of his shock and before he could even think twice about it he wrapped his arms around her. "*Mi dispiace Pierce. Non volevo farti piangere. Per favore smetti di piangere ti rovinerai il tuo sorriso incredibile che porta le cose più belle in questo mondo per la vergogna. Non vale la pena tue lacrime, ti prometto che ti proteggerò. Fatemi pensare a un modo per risparmiare." Pierce didn't understand a thing he said, but she calmed down all the same. "Just, please don't cry." Lovino's face grew bright red as he recognized what he just said. Pierce looked at her cell once more and her eyes were practically going to come out of their sockets with how big the got and she began to tremble. "Lovino I only have six minutes to get home drive and leave me by the school a couple houses down so I won't get caught for getting a ride." She took his cell and began to type something before putting it back in the cup holder.

Lovino did as instructed and left Pierce at the school and drove away not really wanting to leave the girl as she practically ran home. He drove about thirty minutes until he got home and went through the door. He lived with his grandfather Romulus since his parent were often moving from places to places due to , they left them with their grandfather so they could get a regular education until after high school when Lovino would have to take over the family business. By they it was him and his brother Feliciano.

Feliciano was always more popular with people back over in Italy, and everyone always chose his brother over him,even his family did. Lovino didn't really make friends and was, for the most part, by himself in almost everything he did. The only time people actually talked to him was to ask for his younger brother. They were twins but Lovino was born a couple hours earlier than Feliciano. Due to his scowl people didn't really want to get near Lovino, but with his brother's smile and his, happy-go-lucky attitude people were naturally attracted to him.

Lovino walked through the door only to be tackled to the floor "Fratello! You're finally home! I had such an amazing day and I made so many friends. It was so fun and the people were so nice and the girls were so prettyy~! I wish we had the same classes,but it's okay I had fun anyways. One of my friends is a German who really came from German-" Lovino cut his brother off as his brother was about to go into his usual babbling about everything and nothing all at once. "What German Fratello?" When Feliciano opened his mouth Lovino immediately cut him off,"You want to know what? I don't want to hear about it. Stop talking to potato bastards like him that's it." Feliciano pouted as he tried to explain to his brother that his German friend was actually a nice guy and that he could be trusted, but his brother wouldn't hear anything of it. Romulus came at that exact time, " Feliciano! How was school today?" Before Lovino could go back to his room his grandfather, who looked waay younger than his actual age, grabbed him by his wrist and made him sit on the couch as well. By the time Feliciano finally finished it was time to get dinner ready, so Romulus told Lovino to tell him about his day while he was cooking pasta for dinner.

"Okay~! Your turn Lovino! So, did you make friends?" His grandfather said eagerly

"Not really."

"Not even one?"

"Maybe one."

"Did you see any pretty girls?"

"No." Lovino said too quickly as a slight shade of pink that didn't go unnoticed dusted his face.

"Reeaally? Seems like you're lying."

"I'm not." Lovino said his blush growing by the second. _Damn I'm such a horrible fucking liar._ The next wave of questions came so fast that Lovino had a semi-hard time keeping up.

"Did you join any clubs?"

"No."

"Did you run into anyone?"

"Once or twice."

"Did you get lost?"

"Not really."

"What are the color of her eyes?"

"Brown."

"I knew it! There was a girl! Lovino Vargas, you know that you can't keep a secret from me! Italians are the best lovers after all you know!" With that last comment Lovino grabbed a tomato from the fridge and ran to his room so fast that he was just a blur rushing by. He belliy flopped onto the bed and turned his head to begin eating his tomato. _Pierce_ Lovino thought the name sending a shiver through him,whether it was good or not he did not know, _I wonder if she's okay._

_*I'm sorry Pierce. I didn't mean to make you cry. Please stop crying you'll ruin your amazing smile that brings the most beautiful things in this world to shame. She isn't worth your tears, I promise I will protect you. Just let me think of a way to save you.* _

AUTHOR'S NOTE

**I think this chapter came out better than I thought it would, but I still have a long way to go as a writer and such I just wanted to say that the next chapter will begin from when Lovino dropped her off and she rushed home. **


	5. Chapter 5

_I wanted to say thank IcelandicPuffinCat for helping me with the story! Also, special thanks to IcelandicPuffinCat and InvisibleGoldStar for supporting me! __Merry Christmas Everyone! _

~Pierce~

Pierce checked her cell again; two minutes were left. She let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding and cautiously opened the door. Bam! A knife stuck to the side of the doorframe. "Damn I missed." Another knife came flying and she had to duck to avoid getting stabbed in the head with it.

"Josh, give me the knives. You know you aren't supposed to be playing with them." His answer came in the form of another knife._If I hadn't side-stepped that…_she didn't even finish her thought as she found the perfect opportunity to run into the kitchen and grab her 12 year old brother. Josh was her only full sibling. They both had the same father and mother, unlike her sisters who only shared the same mother, but not father. Even though they were full siblings it was only Pierce who was treated differently between them. So, one wrong move and he could get their mother to abuse her until blood came out of all her pores like sweat. How her brother learned how to throw knives, she did not know, but he must have been practicing because when he threw his last knife it had scratched Pierce's cheek closer to her eye than she ever wanted a knife to get.

"Why the hell are you doing this Josh? You really could get hurt." Pierce said, choosing her words carefully.

"Because I want to. I honestly hate you, and want you dead. A huge bloody mess on the floor." Josh said nonchalantly as if it were a normal thing to say. Pierce was shocked; her face had drained of all color. Her brother wasn't much better than her sister, but he had never been this bad. Pierce picked up the knives and began to put them away before their mother could come and punish her with them after seeing them all over the floor. When she bent over to pick up and put back the second to last one, her brother screamed, "Mom! Help! Pierce is trying to kill me!" Pierce froze and she felt as if she could no longer breathe as she heard her mother's footsteps rushing to the kitchen.

"You no good bitch! What the fuck were you trying to do?!" Her mother yelled as she beat Pierce; slamming her against walls, dragging her by her hair, and hitting her with anything within her reach. "You're fucking useless! Don't you dare try to lay a finger on your siblings with those dirty hands! You're disgusting!" Pierce felt a sharp pain in her thigh as her mother cut her with a knife and before she knew it, she blacked out.

Pierce awoke to sharp stinging pain from almost every part of her body, and blood on her clothes, floor,... and wall?! Pierce blinked and looked at the wall again and gasped.

_Mom said to clean up the blood when you wake up - Josh_

Pierce tried to stand up, but fell immediately, slipping on her own blood. She looked down at herself and her now ripped jeans to check her cuts. They weren't too deep, but they weren't little paper cuts either. Any deeper and she would've needed stitches like the last time. She stood up, careful not to fall and hurt herself anymore. Barely keeping her balance, she walked to the closet with all the medical supplies. She disinfected and bandaged the cuts on her arms and legs before limping upstairs to her room. Pierce changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top, not being able to put anything else on without feeling extra pain from the fabric.

Down in the the basement, Pierce grabbed the "special" mop, rag, and bucket used for situations like this. She cleaned the blood, leaving neither a drop nor even the smell of it; you couldn't tell it had ever been there. She climbed the stairs to her room. The limp was so obvious at this point it would be pointless to hide it in school tomorrow. She began to write in her notebook:

November 18

I guess I always feel like falling apart, since I've written in this thing twice in one day. I'm all bloody and bruised because my younger brother told a lie to my mother. I wonder what has gotten into him. He has always hated me, but not to the extent of trying to kill me and wanting to see my blood splattered everywhere. I remember when we got along, when we were really young, when I helped him with his problems. Now I know I'm falling apart inside and out; I'm bruised and cut all over. I wish I could say that this is the first time or that this hasn't happened before, but if I did, I would be lying. Why? Why? Why!? I don't remember what I did wrong. I don't understand why I am hated by everyone around me: my mom, my siblings, everyone in my family, the people at school. I don't remember doing anything wrong to them; I was just born. I didn't just decide I wanted to exist. If it was up to me, I would have made sure I wasn't ever born. I am the reason why Trinity has a hard time with people; they judge her for being with me. That Lovino guy will eventually be like the rest and make fun of me, try to make me turn to dust in the wind, with nothing left to destroy. He seems really kind, and maybe he might care about me, but I can't get too attached to him or anything because he can still stab me in the back. He has amazing green eyes, and his voice has an accent that I can't put my finger on, but makes me want to smile. He was really kind to me and gave me a ride home. If my mother ever found out that I got a ride home I think I would be better off dead than having to deal with what my punishment would be. He was so sweet and didn't reject me, maybe he cares about me?

Pierce closed the notebook. She shook her head and laid down on her bed. _No that's the last thing he probably pities me_. As she closed her eyes her cell phone vibrated and her eyes snapped open. She looked at the phone charging next to her on the bed with a confused expression. She smiled when she saw the text.

_-Hey! You almost scared me to death and made me fall of my bed!_

A second later another message came in.

**_-It's Lovino_**


	6. Chapter 6

_HAPPY NEW YEARS!_

_- Lovino's message_

_~Pierce's message_

~Lovino~

A knock came at the door, interrupting Lovino from his thoughts. He stood up and opened the door, only to be dragged downstairs by his brother who kept talking about pasta and how great it was. When they sat down at the dinner table Lovino readied himself for the barrage of questions, but, oddly enough, they didn't come and his brother just continued talking about pasta. Lovino had been drowning him out until he said something that caught his attention: "I wonder if the girl Lovino has a crush on likes pasta? She has to like pasta right? She must be pretty for Fratello to like her. He rarely likes anyone! I knooow~! We should invite her to dinner and we could serve pasta to the pretty girl! Maybe we could go visit her? If she can make Fratello smile I bet her whole family is nice." At first, hearing about Pierce was making Lovino smile without noticing, but his grandfather noticed and watched as his grandson's smile grew. It disappeared the minute the topic changed to her family, and Lovino's scowl appeared worse than before. He looked purely pissed.

"Shut the hell up fratello!" Lovino said not being able to control his anger anymore. "Stop talking about Pierce's family as if you know them!" Lovino was going to continue until he noticed his grandfather and calmed down a bit.

After his outburst they ate in silence for a bit until Feliciano began to talk about kittens. When he finally finished dinner he left the cleaning to his grandfather and brother and laid down on his bed. _Why am I worried about her I barely know her._ Lovino began to picture Pierce over and over again: her smile, kindness, and even her crying. Before he knew it, he was asleep dreaming about her.

~In Dreamland~

"Hey Lovino, did you plant these yourself?" Pierce said smiling as she bit into the tomato.

"Of course! Only the tomatoes that I had in Italy can taste this good." Lovino said grabbing a tomato seemingly out of thin air. They were in a garden that had almost every fruit and beautiful flower there, but probably the biggest tomato garden ever.

Lovino looked over at Pierce who was smiling at the sky in a way only she could. They were laying down in a field of flowers full of plumerias, hydrangeas, chrysanthemums, orchids, roses, and Queen of Sheba. "The flowers here are beautiful Lovino, this whole place here is beautiful." Pierce said while touching the petals of a blue rose.

"Huh? I guess it is. Pierce, I wanted to ask you something." Lovino asked his eyes closed, but his face looking up at the sky.

"Sure ask anything." Pierce said

"What is it like at home?" Lovino said opening his eyes to look at Pierce.

"It isn't important." Pierce said not facing Lovino.

"Of course it is!" Lovio said starting to feel frustrated.

"It isn't important." Pierce repeated again and the garden began to disappear into a barren landscape and the sunlight began to fade behind a wall of dark clouds. Lovino stood up and looked as the beautiful colorful world he was in began to fade to gray. The world began to shake as Lovino began to hear something in the distance that sounded strangely familiar. Pierce turned around tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry." Pierce kissed him as everything finally dissapeared and Lovino fell into the darkness back to reality.

~Back to the Real World~

"Chiigiii!" Lovino fell off of his bed and fell face first as his alarm clock went off. "Ooww! What the hell?" Lovino said rubbing his forehead. _I don't remember putting on an alarm clock_. Lovino's alarm clock rang out "Buono tomato, buono tomato Buono buono ooh! Tomato Raise the red one, down the green one, tomatomatomato! Buono tomato, buono tomato..." Lovino looked at his cell and silenced the alarm clock. He looked at the subject title for the alarm "Call Pierce :858-769-4747" (Author's note: I put random numbers for the cell number please don't try to call it in case it is someone's actual number) _When did this alarm get put on my cell? _Lovino smiled

_Hey! You almost scared me to death and made me fall of my bed! _"Wait, she doesn't know my number." Lovino thought aloud sending another message _It's Lovino._

A minute later a message came in

~Haha I was hoping it would surprise you

-My face hurts

~I'm sorry I didn't think it would up with you headbutting the floor…

-It's okay how are you feeling anyways?

~Pierce~

Pierce looked at her cell not knowing how to respond to the last text. _I can't just tell him that my mom beat me again. _Pierce typed and erased not knowing what to say at first.

~I'm fine nothing new. Anyways what about you?

-You're a horrible liar

Pierce just stared at her cell not knowing what to type. It wasn't that obvious so how could he tell. Her cell began to vibrate and Pierce stared at it before picking up.

"Yes." Pierce said hesitantly. "All the blood better be fucking picked up or else next time there will be more than blood on the floor. Go get me some juice and if you're not here in less than two minutes you'll need stitches. You're not going to school tomorrow I don't want them to call or make me send your useless self to the hospital." Before her mother hung up she was already on her way downstairs and a minute later was at her mother's door knocking and handing over the juice without looking her in the eye. She walked out of the room and walked to her room and slumped down against the door and stared at her cell, another text had come in.

-Tell me what happened

~It's no big deal. I'm probably not going to school tomorrow, I'm not feeling to good.

Not even a minute passed when Pierce's cell began to ring again. She looked at her cell, took a deep breath and answered.

~Lovino~

"Hello?" Pierce answered and Lovino was relieved. He was scared that she wouldn't pick up and that something horrible had happened to her.

"What happened?" Lovino said, leaving no room for objection.

"Nothing, it's no big deal I swear. I just don't feel to good so I'm staying home."Pierce said the lie obvious in her voice.

"What happened? If you don't tell me I swear on every fucking thing I own, every fucking bastard I've ever met, and even on my tomato garden that I own that I will go over there." Lovino said grabbing jeans with a black shirt and sneakers. Even though his words were harsh the worry was evident in them. _Why can't she tell me is it that bad?_

"Lovino…please, it's not as bad as you think I'm just a bit sick." Pierce said, making an obviously fake coughing fit. Lovino was halfway to the door when he heard a voice next to him.

"Fratello?Where are you going? Who are you talking to?" Feliciano said coming from the kitchen.

"You don't need to know where the hell I'm going! And it's nobody you know so leave me alone!" Lovino said the worry and frustration close to it's breaking point.

"Lovino, I'm not feeling too well, so I'll go to sleep now. You sound pretty busy, so please don't worry and go to sleep. I'll see you on Friday. Ciao." Pierce said quickly before hanging up.

Lovino was about to throw his cell phone out of pure frustration when he felt a hand grab his arm. He turned around to see his grandfather staring back at him.

"Lovino~ what are you doing? More importantly where were you going?" Lovino shook his grandfather off and put his cell back into his pocket, "Nothing, I'm going back upstairs I'm not feeling too good today." he went to his room and locked the door and sulked for a bit.

_She was obviously lying to me, but why? Damn it! If only my brother didn't stop me, I would've been at her place by now! _A knock came at his door and Lovino unlocked it letting the person in.

"Hey Fratello, are you okay?" Feliciano asked nervously.

"No, I'm not okay I am starting to feel a bit sick." Lovino said while getting ready for bed.

"Why did you look so scared and worried? I've never seen you like that before." Feliciano said worriedly. He had never seen his brother behave like that before; even when things were going downhill fast, his brother never seemed so frantic. Lovino froze, not knowing how to respond to his brother's question.

"It was nothing, okay Fratello? I'm going to bed now." Lovino responded, leaving no room for objections from his brother. Feliciano's face lit up and he began to get ready for bed too. "Yaaay~! I was actually worried that something really bad had happened, but I'm glad nothing there was nothing like that. Grandpa has to work at the hospital tomorrow. I wonder if he ever gets worried or scared? I'm going to be sleeping here tonight with you, okay Fratello?" Before Lovino could even respond Feliciano was in his bed. Lovino had tried to stop his brother's need to sleep with someone, but nothing ever worked, so he just went to sleep next to his brother.

~Pierce~

Pierce stared up at the ceiling. _Was he really going to come here?_It was 9:30 p.m. by now and Pierce closed her eyes as her thoughts came and went just as quickly. Pierce set her alarm for 6:15 a.m. and fell asleep.

Pierce awoke to the sound of her alarm and immediately rushed downstairs, her wounds from yesterday hurting her with every move she made. On days when she was forced to stay home she had to make everyone breakfast, have it ready on the table before anyone came downstairs, then make all the beds when they were out of their rooms. By 6:45 Pierce had the table full of food. She rushed to her room before anyone saw her downstairs. One by one her mother and siblings woke up and went downstairs, and she quickly did everyone's bed and cleaned up any extra messes. Pierce checked her cell phone. It was 7:15. She walked quietly to her room and sat on her bed while she waited for everyone to leave. By 7:55 everyone was out of the house, and Pierce set her alarm for 9:25 and went to sleep.

Pierce awoke to a knock coming from downstairs and her cell ringing. She hurriedly looked at her phone and picked up.

"What took you so long to pick up? You know what you have to do; the house better be f***ing spotless by the time I get back. No exceptions." Without another word her mother hung up and Pierce quickly limped downstairs to open the door. She was met with a bowl of soup.

"I'm coming in."


	7. Chapter 7

~Pierce~

Pierce moved to the side and allowed the Vargas into the house, closing the door behind him. He handed the soup over to her and opened the briefcase in his other hand. "I went to the school for your random check-up and I didn't find you there. Soooo, I came to your house instead~! I thought that you wouldn't have eaten yet, so I brought you soup in case you have a cold or something~!" Pierce tried-and failed- to hide her limp as she went to grab a spoon to eat the soup. It, didn't go unnoticed by the Vargas who stood up to help her. As they went back to the living room he was going to help her sit on the couch, but she shook her head and sat down on the floor instead.

"You should sit on the couch it seems more comfortable." He said trying to help her onto the couch, but once again she shook her head, "No, I'm not allowed on the couch, I'll get into trouble if I mess it up." Seeing that this was a losing battle the doctor sat down next to Pierce.

"Are you going to tell me why you're limping again today?" Romulus said already knowing the answer she was going to give.

"It's nothing, I'm just really clumsy. I'll be more careful next time." Pierce said in a monotone voice, the lines so well-rehearsed that they sounded robotic after using them for so long. Romulus had tried coaxing the truth out of her, but had never gotten anywhere. Romulus looked at her wounds and got to work on disinfecting them and bandaging them.

Romulus liked helping people and that is why he became a doctor and all, but how was he supposed to help her if she didn't tell him the truth. Pierce winced at the stinging pain she felt as bandaged her up. _Even if he looks nice he still isn't trustworthy_, she shook inwardly as she remembered what happened last time someone tried to "help" her. The woman was secretly friends with her mother and the end result was Pierce being hospitalized for almost a week and a half.

"There all done!" Romulus said with a smile "You should start eating the soup before it gets cold." She nodded and ate a bit of the food and smile brightly. Now that she thought about it, this wasn't the first time he had brought her food.

"The food tastes great as always Dr. Vargas. Why is it that you always bring me food?" Pierce asked curiously.

"Call me Romulus; we're friends. I always make more food than necessary and it was soup today because my my grandson is sick too." Romulus smiled happy that Pierce had liked the food. Pierce just nodded and Romulus looked at his watch and hurriedly stood up and started to pick up his medical supplies. Pierce just sat and continued to watch the doctor as he quickly scribbled something down and handed it to her, "If you ever need anything call this number." Afterwards he quickly ran out the door "accidentally" dropping a roll of bandages and some antibiotics to keep the cuts from getting infected. Pierce finished eating and quickly and began on her cleaning just as her cell started ringing her alarm going off, "Ciao, ciao! Ciao, ciao! Ciao, ciao! Ciao, cia-" the sound was cut off as Pierce turned off and smiled at her cute alarm.

~Lovino~

Lovino was "sick" in bed with a sore throat, stomach ache, and a fever. His grandfather fussed over him all morning telling him that he could take a day off of work for him and put his agenda on hold, but Lovino refused, _I have my own agenda to get done once you leave_. After Lovino insisted that he was fine and that sme bed rest would do him some good his grandfather left to work mumbling something along the lines of having to do a random check-up on a girl. When his grandfather finally left Lovino fell asleep.

When he woke up again, his grandfather was in the room again, "Nonno," Lovino said sleepily, "what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be at work?"

"Don't worry, I'm going back in a minute I just came to make some soup for you and my client she wasn't in school so she must be sick at home with a cold like you~! Don't worry, I'll go back soon and won't be home until around 10 so make sure to tell Feliciano that." Romulus said a bit too cheerfully as he left, a second bowl of soup in his hand.

Lovino ate the soup and stayed in his bed for about 30 minutes before he finally went to go take a shower with scalding hot water as always. After, he changed into a red v-neck, jeans, and a black jacket with sneakers. Lovino hurried to the garage and left the house. If you could call it a house that is. It was more along the lines of a mansion, but only Lovino, Feliciano, and Romulus lived there and cleaned it. Well, Lovino tries, but isn't too good at it. He walked down the garage and grabbed the keys to his Lamborghini Murcielago LP640. He quickly left the garage and sped over towards Pierce's house worry gnawing at his mid throughout the whole trip. Ten minutes later Lovino was _near_ Pierce's house, but didn't know exactly where it was or where he was. He sped around for about ten minutes until he found the spot where he dropped her off the day before. He parked the car nearby and jumped out the car hurriedly walking down the street trying to figure out where her house was. _I should have thought this shit through damn it! I'd probably look creepy as hell too if I just knocked on the door. What if her mom opens the door? What if she doesn't want to see me?_ Close to a billion what-ifs had passed through Lovino's mind before he got tired of aimlessly walking around for an hour trying to find her house and decided to sit down on a set of stairs leading to someone's front porch. "She has to be somewhere around here." Lovino mumbled to himself feeling extremely frustrated.

"Who?" A voice behind him said. Lovino jumped a good foot in the air before he turned around hoping to see Pierce out of some stroke of luck. He was disappointed when he turned around to see a short spanish woman behind him. "You do know that you're trespassing, but it doesn't matter right now. Come inside; you look tired." Lovino looked at her quizzically, the lady noticed immediately and let out a soft chuckle, "Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you or anything I'm experimenting on baking some struffoli for the first time. Come inside and you can try them." Lovino followed her inside wanting to taste the italian pastry.

Lovino sat down in the living room eating some struffoli with a stranger who was in the kitchen making more of the pastry and a lot of noise coming from next door._The neighbor is probably cleaning or some shit like that, but who is this woman?_ " I've been here for about 30 minutes and I still don't know what it is. What's your name?" Lovino said not wanting to think of her as "the lady".

The woman smiled happily, "I guess I forgot to tell you! Haha my name is Yessy

. Like Jessie just spelled differently. Who were you looking for earlier anyways?"

"A girl I know, she lives somewhere around here." Lovino said frustratingly his face colored a dusty red. He tried to hide it behind his hand, but failed miserably as it grew and was seen on the tips of his ears.

Yessi walked into the room with a bowl and a container of struffoli. " You seem to care about her a lot just look at your face your blushing~!" She handed the container to him,"Anyways, you should leave if you want to find that girl so here's some more since you liked it so much, but can you do me a quick favor and take this over to my neighbor . She is such a sweet girl!" Lovino nodded as he took the bowl and left the house and walked over next door. He felt a bit awkward, but he owed it to Yessi for being so kind to him and feeding him delicious food. He rang the doorbell, but the person on the other side didn't seem to hear it. Lovino knocked on the door loudly hoping they would feel or hear the banging somehow over the sound of the unnecessarily loud vacuum. Hearing the vacuum getting closer to the door he stuck his hand through the mail slot and waved. _I must look creepy as hell to the poor ragazza on the other side._ He pulled his hand out when he felt someone tap his hand on the other side and open the door. Lovino turned his head not wanting to look at the person he could potentially have creeped out and said ,"This is from Yessi; she told me to bring it to you." He felt the weight of the bowl taken out of his hand and was about to leave when the person tapped him on the shoulder mid-turn.

"I didn't think you were serious when you said you were going to come, but thank you for the food." A voice quietly said behind him. Lovino quickly turned around to see Pierce standing in the doorway with a smile on her face. He looked at her and smiled before his face went back to its usual scowl maybe even harsher than usual. "What happened to you?" Lovino saw all of the bandages and bruises and Pierce let him in and attempted to continue cleaning while telling him what happened. At the first sign of her trying to clean again Lovino forced her to sit down in the chair.

"Listen you're hurt and I know you have to get this whole house cleaned, but you're too fucking hurt to do this shit. I'm not too good at cleaning and normally my fratello and nonno do all the cleaning, but I'll do all the cleaning for you today so just sit down and eat some struffoli; it's really good." Lovino said picking up a rag and began to carefully dust, hoping that he doesn't break tried to help him countless times, but Lovino refused saying that she is in obvious pain and that she should rest and eat unless she needed to be tied to the chair to make sure she didn't make her injuries worse. After an hour of trying to help Pierce eventually gave up and just sat down and gave him instructions on how to clean some things. _Thank everything that he came I don't know what I would've done without him. _She looked at the time and saw that it was only 11:45 _he also gets the work done faster that I would have. _By the time Lovino finished it was 12:55 and Pierce was fast asleep.

_She looks so cute _Lovino thought and shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had finished all of the chores that she left and he picked her up and carried her upstairs trying to avoid waking her up and touching her wounds. At the top of the steps there were four doors, but he didn't know which one was hers. He shook her lightly and whispered in her ear "Which is your room ragazza?" Pierce was shocked at being carried, but didn't mind and liked the feeling of being in his arms and being able to hear his heartbeat. She blushed a bright pink and lazily pointed to the fourth door down the hall, away from all the other rooms. He opened the door the room and placed her on her bed before telling her to sleep. Pierce complied and immediately fell asleep exhausted.

Lovino looked around the room and tried his best to not be nosy but he couldn't help it and began to look around the plain room. When he was done he just sat and watched Pierce sleep peacefully. He moved the stray hair from her face and couldn't help, but stare and before he knew what he was doing he had kissed her on the cheek, "Sogni d'oro bella." He whispered before setting an alarm for 2:45 and sat on the floor head resting on her bed as he nodded off to sleep.

Pierce felt something warm brush against her cheek and heard something in a different language, but kept her eyes closed. She was in a place between dream and reality where she was asleep, but could hear and feel everything around her. She was an extremely light sleeper. Eventually she fell into a dreamless sleep and woke up about an hour and thirty minutes later feeling rested. She sat up and saw Lovino half sleeping on her bed.

_He looks so cute sleeping! _ Pierce thought as she watched him sleep his hair curl defying gravity. She heard him mumble something so she got closer to see if she could listen in _he's so cute when he sleeps he even talks_ she let out a soft giggle. It was soft, but Pierce was positive he heard Lovino mumble his name in her sleep and as if to clarify that he did he said it again. Pierce giggled again and began to softly play with his hair then she stopped. _I haven't been this happy in a while_ Pierce thought a soft genuine smile playing on her lips as she heard Lovino mumble "C'mon, that felt good don't stop playing with my hair." He was dreaming still, but dreaming about Pierce playing with his hair as well. Then, an alarm rung out and Lovino immediately woke up, jumped, and landed on his butt on the floor. Pierce began to laugh as he hurriedly tried to turn off the alarm clock, his face blushing a red out of embarrassment.

"Did you know that you talk in your sleep? You said my name a lot." Pierce said making Lovino's blush turn into a deeper shade of red.

"H-hey I have to go now Pierce I'll see you on monday or whenever." Lovino said quickly leaving the house and Pierce smiled before telling him.

"Lock the door for me! The passcode is 1145 feel free to come any time as long as you tell me that you're coming first." The lock on her door isn't like all the other ones you don't use a key for it, but instead you type in a 4-digit passcode. Lovino locked the door and quickly hurried to his car and drove home. _Damn that's so fucking embarrassing! _


End file.
